Gearing for washing-machines.



G. W. LEWIS.

GEARING FOR WASHING MACHINES.

APPLICATION TILED IIIB.14,1910.

1,1 19,438, Patented Dec. 1,1914.

ED STATES PATENT onFicE.

GEORGE W. LEWIS, 0F GRINN'ELL, IOW A.

GEARING FOR WASHING-MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 1, 1914.

Application filed February 14, 1910. Serial No. 543,883.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE W. LEWIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Grinnell, in the county of Poweshiek and State of Iowa, have invented a certain'new and useful Gearing for \Vashing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of gear ing devices especially designed for use in connection with washing machines of the type having an agitator adapted to be given an alternating rotary movement and having an ordinary clothes wringer connected therewith.

My object is to provide a gearing device of this class of simple, durable and nexpensive construction that may be readily and easily applied to a washing machine and wringer of the class described.

More specifically it is my object to provide a gearing device of this class that may be applied to the stationary body portion of the washing machine and the hinged cover thereof in such a manner that the main power shaft may be easily placed in line with the pivotal center of the hinged cover.

A further object is to provide improved means for throwing the agitator shaft out of gear when the hinged cover is raised and placed in an open position. 1

My invention consists in certain details, in the construction, arrangement and com bination of the various parts of the device whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a top or plan view of a part of the washing machine and the wringer to illustrate a modified form of my device. Fig. 2 shows an enlarged, detail, sectional View of the agitator shaft and connected parts illustrating the modified form. Fig. 3 shows a similar view, of smaller size, taken on a line at right angles to that on which Fig. 2 is taken, and showing the gear wheel on the agitator shaft in position to retate in unison with the shaft. Fig. 4: shows a view similar to Fig. :3 of the agitator shaft in its inverted position as when the hinged cover is open and showing the agita' tor shaft moved downwardly to position where the gear wheel thereon may have an alternating rotary movement without moving the agitator shaft. Fig. 5 shows a sectional view on the line 13-13 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 6 shows a sectional view on the line 1 l14= of Fig. 2.

Mounted in the hinged cover of the washing machine is an agitator shaft 16. All of the parts ust described are of the ordinary construction and of themselves form no part of my present invention.

My improved gearing device comprises a power shaft 17 provided with a crank arm 20 to which a pitman 21 is connected. This shaft 17 is continuously rotated by any suitable gearing devices within the casing 49. I support the power shaft by means of the brackets 22 and 31 fixed on the stationary portion of the top of the machine body. The hinged members 37 may be fixed to the hinged cover and the cover will have its hinged center at the center of the power shaft 17 and may freely swing thereon.

The means for operating the agitator shaft and for throwing it into and out of gear comprises a segmental rack 39 ful crumed to a lug l0 and arranged in. upright position. This segmental rack is provided near its central portion with a bolt 41 to which the pitman 21 is pivoted. The agitator shaft 16 is mounted in a stationary bearing 68 and is capable of a limited up and down movement therein and also of rotary movement. At the top of this bearing 68 is a gear case 69 open at one side as shown in Figs. 3 and at. The upper end of the agitator shaft 16 is provided near its top with a longitudinal groove 70 and below this longitudinal groove is a recess 71 which, as shown in Fig. (5, extends around the agitator shaft about'half its circumference. Mounted within the gear case 69 is a beveled pinion 72 having a key 73 therein which key is designed to slidingly enter the slot 70 when the shaft 16 is at its lower limit of movement and said key is also de signed to enter the recess 71 when the shaft is moved upwardly relative to its hearing as shown in Fig. f. The segmental rack 39 is normally in mesh with the pinion 72. In

use and assuming that the cover is closed ldi) - limit the downward movement of the shaft.

I claimi 1., In a device ofthe class described, the combination of a support, a hingedmember for the support, capablevof being swung to an inverted position, a pinion carried by said-hinged member, an upright shaft capa ble of longitudinal movement through said pinion, means for imparting an alternating rotary movement to said pinion, and means for causing said pinion and said shaft to rotate in unison when the hinged member-is in its'normal horizontal. position, said means being so located as to be inoperative when the hinged member is swung to inverted position and said shaft slides to one limit of its movement with relation to said pinion.

2. In a device of the vclass described, a support, a hinged member for the support, an upright bearing on said hinged member having a vcasing at its upper end, a pinion within said casing, a shaft 'slidingly mounted within said bearing and said pinion haring a narrow groove and a wide groove in communication therewith, a rack mounted on the hinged member and in mesh with saidpinion, said parts being so arranged that an oscillation of the rack will impart an alternating rotary movement to said pinion, a key in said pinion designedto enter the said narrow groovewhen the shaft is at one limit of its movement and to enter the wide groove when at the other limit of its movement.

3. In a deviceiof the class described, the combination of a support, an upright shaft slidingly mounted in the support, said shaft beingprovided with a narrow groove and with a wide groove communicating with it, a beveledpinion slidingly mounted on the shaft, a key fixed to the beveled pinion and designed to enter the narrow groove when the beveled pinion is at the top of the shaft 1 and to enter the Wide groove when the shaft moves upwardly throughithe beveled pinion, a gear casing surroundingsaid beveled pinion and fixed to the support said casing being open at one side, a segmental rack in mesh with the beveled pinion, said parts beingso arranged that whenthe support in which the shaft is mounted is in normal position, the shaft will be at its lower limit of movement and the key will be in the narrow portion of the slot to thereby operate the shaft when the beveled pinion is turned and when the said support is in an inverted position .;the shaft will move downwardly through the casing by gravity so that the key will be inthe wide slot and so that the beveled pinion may be rotatably reciprocated by the segmental rack without operating the shaft.

4. In a device of the class described, the combination of a support, a continuously driven crank shaft. thereon, a hinged member designed to swing from a horizontal position about said crank shaft as a center to an inverted position, an upright bearing on said hinged member having a casing at its upper end, a pinion within said casing, a

shaft slidably mounted within said bearing and said pinion, said shaft being provided witha narrow groove and a wide groove in communication-with it, a rack mounted on the hinged member in mesh with said pinion, a pi'tman for operating said rack from the crank to produce an alternating rotary movement of said pinion as the crank is'rotated, a key fixed to the pinion designed to enter the narrow groove in said shaft when the hinged member is in its horizontal position and to cause said shaft'and pinion to operate in unison, saidkey being also designed to enter the wide groove when the cover is in its inverted position to permit the pinion to rotate without rotating the said shaft.

GEORGE W. LEWIS.

Witnesses:

WILL C. RAYBURN, AGN S I. NAYLOR.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each,by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. 0. 

